On America's Generous "Patriotic Millionaires" Who Just Can't Wait To Pay Down The US Debt

Several months ago, an ad hoc consortium of self-proclaimed millionaires, sent a letter to Obama, Reid and Boehner, demanding that "for the fiscal health of our nation and the well-being of our fellow citizens, we ask that you increase taxes on incomes over $1,000,000." This grass roots initiative was formed in the aftermath of Warren Buffett's, since defunct, proposal to impose a "millionaire tax" rule. Of course, back then, as now, someone actually did the math and realized what the impact of such as tax would be in the grand scheme of the next decade of deficits, as we reported previously, and as summarized below.

One can see why not only the "Buffett Rule" but any attempt to balance the budget without collapsing government spending, would at best result in laughter, at least for those who who are still proficient with the occasional abacus.

The reason we bring up the issue of America's "Patriotic Millionaires" is that today once again, one of them made an appearance on CNBC, preaching why it is for the common good that there be a mandatory tax for all those who earn $1 million or more, because it is someone's view that the government is far better at finding subzero IRR ways of destroying capital (by definition) - something the US government has proven its efficiency with time and again, and certainly not only just under the current administration, but virtually every single one since the advent of income tax. As another reminder, this is how efficient the US government has been at creating deficits, if not so much surpluses, since 1900:

Luckily, as all these very much informed millionaires know quite well, the US Treasury has a dedicated section, named simply pay.gov, which allows anyone: billionaires (here's looking at you Mr. Buffett), millionaire, or even thousandaire, to make a donation which is used directly to pay down the US debt. Because in the absence of the government mandating rich people pay their "fair share" (as determined by a subcommittee of course) for now at least, there is always that other alternative: voluntary action, as per the auspices of something called free will.

And not only that, but the US Treasury also provides the general public with a running tally of just how much "Patriotic Millionaire" initiatives have given so far to paying down said debt. As in talk is cheap, signing petitions even cheaper, but putting money where your mouth is actually does go to the bottom line.

The bottom line so far in 2012? $7.7 Million - this is how much has been volunteered in total gifts to pay down the US debt.

So doing some quick math:

There were 165 signatories to the original "Patriotic Millionaires" list, among which Nouriel Roubini, Leo Hindery, Rick Schottenfield, and mysteriously, Whitney Tilson. One should of course add Warren Buffett: the progenitor of the grassroots movement. Thus a total of 166. In other words, assuming only these 166 people donated cash to the US Treasury in 2012 to pay down the debt (while a potential tax deal awaits), the average patriotic millionaire has donated a whopping of $46,684.45 toward paying down the US debt.

Putting this in context:

There is $16.245 trillion in debt

US population is at 314,694,000 most recently.

This amounts to $51,622.6 in debt for every man, woman and child (and excludes all the tens of trillions in unfunded welfare obligations).

In other words, assuming America's "Patriotic Millionaire" grassroots movement donated, (naturally this is a big assumption, but for the sake of humor we will go with it) on a pro-rata basis, have given $5K less than they owe as part of their natural funding obligation to the US.

And this is from the people who continue getting media time for being so "generous" they are willing to give out their money, and everyone else's, for the common good. Or at least, of course, until one actually calculates how much of their own money they have given.

Such as this guy.

But certainly hold your breath, because these same people, all of whom are very intimately aware of the details of offshore tax havens, have armies of accountants whose jobs are precisely to find creative ways to minimize their tax obligations, and, not to mention, numerous Swiss bank accounts, if not so aware of the pay.gov website, just can't wait to fund America's $16.3 trillion in public debt... and rising at $100 billion each month.

But hey: in a world in which actions are cheaper than talk, who cares - after all they "signed the petition." And that is what true patriotism is all about.

there are many versions of it; as far as the MIC scam is concerned, both in Libya as extrapolated in Syria. Behind that lies the allegations of petraeus's manipulation of surge both in Iraq sunni-shia civil war as in Afghan to fool the Admin about its success there. Not just him but a bunch of generals; aka Pentagon top brass all in.

That needs to be discussed. Like the CHurch commission dscussed Vietnam aftermath.

This is something the public should know as Syria/Iran may be around the corner next.

Obammy apparently wants out but not the MIC; it would be nice to know whats what.

The road to ME military complications is staring us in the face and the world has to know who is Lance Armstrong and who is clean and not on streoids. That is if this congress has the guts to want to know, which I doubt.

Well I heard a blurb on the radio this morning about how the bangee said something about prisoners at the "consulate" so that would be a HUGE admission, much worse than we were there trying to buy back MANPADS.

If the attack was in fact a storming of the annex or consulate (in reality a torture center) trying to free some "enemy combatants" who were having their testicles suckled by a pig then I am sure this would make a huge difference in how many heads rolled.

Let's rewrite the tax code to confiscate the wealth of their foundations. Close all the tax exempt status of their political think tanks. F'n hypocrites. If the F'n government is the answer, give your money to the government to blow as they see fit.

Another problem is that when you Sell an Investment Property of a large holding of Stocks. That could very easily put you over $250,000. a year and cause you to pay the maximum tax for that year. Even if your income normally is modest.

the government is evil in that it allows 'stupid' to prevail. When to economy collapses we shall see who can float and who sinks based upon swimming skill rather than the life jacket support of the central planners. Until then it is just more government supported mediocrity.

Love the bit about how "wealthy" people don't get out of bed every day worrying about what the tax rate is. They go to work because "that's what they do".

False. At some level of taxation EVERYONE quits, and that level doesn't have to be 70% or 80% when it is so obvious that tax dollars are WASTED so flagrantly on "progressive investments" like wind power.

It happens to be legally binding, and they have the guns, bombs, drones, tanks, and missiles to "prove it". If you think the government doesn't intend to collect on public debt, look at the history of the IRS.

time to flatten the tax. Yearly capital/asset gains, no shelters. no trusts, same rate everyone with no deductionsm no deferrals, one retirement plan for all no 401k, IRA, exec plan, just one plan! The one deduction are KIDS as those kids are going to pay for our future. I don't want to pay for your cat charity, big house, hedgefund manager, or fat retirment!!

Proves one thing; millionaires and billionaires have no lock on owning the most brain cells. Why would anyone pay a government more taxes when that government wastes over 50 cents on every dollar it steals?

There is a reason why the London bookmakers had Obama at 1:2 odds regardless of the "momentum" of Romney fater the 1st debate. They knew that the left wing facsism would prevail...by hook or crook.

The oddsmakers saw the money coming in on Obaa and palyed the market making function perfectly. The Election did come down to the 8 or so swing states. With the CEO of GOOG, and the CEO of FB in Obama's pocket, not much effort would be required to identify all elegible voters in swing states, define their political preferences from search and Facebook postings, and then target them with ads (women = abortion, minorites / lower middle income = loss of benefits, Minorties in inner city = make sure that they are bussed or community organizer encourged (with money, cell phones, etc..). Classic left woing facsism.

Hey if I was a left wing facist thats what I would do. I mean who mis going to call you out..the MSM? hehe.

So...tax rises for the "wealthy", cuts in spending for the old white people that voted for Romney (don't worry Google will figure that out), tax incentives for housing industry and other hand out industries, and voila...the story of Forward ! is complete.

Want to oppose...be careful the IRS will be all over your neck. FORWARD !

These fat cats who suddenly become so rightous just make me puke. Pure hypocrites. Buffet has benefited from tax laws, passsed by paid-off politicians, not because of anything productive he has done in his God- damned life that has been of any benefit to humanity. He has just taken money from oine group of people, and after skimming off the top for himself, transferred what's left to Berkshire Hathaway.

The present Federal Income Tax we now are saddle with was sold to the public in the same way: Originally it was to be paid only by the rich, and who doesn't want to soak the rich, right? Well, you see how it all ended. People have such a little knowledge of history, they fall for the same old game, time and time again. It wasn't that long ago that Buffet was well respect by all, the Wall Street pimps still worship at his feet. More and more of the "little people" are seeing him for what he has been all along; A crony capitalist POS. When the elites start asking the government to raise their taxes, WATCH OUT. There is something unnatural about that, it runs counter to their nature. J.D. Rockefeller was the mold for today's ultra wealthy; They never give away anything unless they expect more in return.

Let's not make it a tax...no one likes taxes. Let's make it a SUBSCRIPTION service--that's a popular enough idea, isn't it? People SHOULD pay for the services they use, just like in free markets.

So say anyone who wants to vote in a Federal election just has to pay 10% of their net asset wealth to participate.

This should make everyone happy. No more "mob rule" by the folks who don't pay income taxes, no risk of democracy taking hold, and it would be simple because it would apply to all individuals equally.

Some may object because of that whole "poll tax is unconstitutional" tradition, but anyone who has net asset wealth of ZERO wouldn't have to pay anything. What could be more fair than that?

A lot of the loudest complaining folks here are worried they're going to be penniless under the jackboot of the current communist dictator soon anyway. At least this would give them option of going down fighting.

A: No way in hell the federal government would ever allow any state to withdraw from the Union. Once you’re in the US you are in for life, for better or worse. Like a marriage.

B: To sucede from the Union you would need two-thirds vote by the citizens of that state to do it and with most states having half the voters in the democratic party of freebies again no way in hell it would ever happen.

C: The federal government would never allow it to happen and they would use the US Military to oust the currrently seated governor and disolve the state legislatures and place a caregiver federal governor in its place.

D: The federal government looks at itself as a sovereign nation with all the states as its territory and Obama as its king. It would never allow for any of its land holdings to be taken away from them, much less any of its income from the peasants be eliminated from their tax coffers.

E: Once a state joins the federal union it forever lost its individual identity and its rights.

F: You may renounce your US Citizenship but never can your state renounce its citizenship.

G: The list goen on and on why a state will never be allowed to peacefully leave the union. You are stuck for life with the federal government.

H: If you move to another country then you no longer have to live under this Kings rule. But he won't let you take all your money with you because he says it belongs to him and his followers.

The USSR is alive and well. You really think communisym is dead there? Different name but same players. Just a reorganization of the players but the ideology is still alive and the people for the most part still live the same way today as they did under the USSR flag. I guess you believe the cold war with the Russians is over too huh.

One thousand multi-millionaires go to a tax shelter conference, and leave the keys to their Rolls and Jags at the front door. The attendant takes off with all the receipts, so the keys are handed out randomly to the guests as they depart.

What are the chances that none of the millionaires gets the correct key?

If Buffey Buffet is so concerned about the debt why didn't he just give his fortune to the US Treasury instead of "Gate's Employment for His soon to be liberal-ass rich fuck looser kid's [not yours] Foundation." Buffet knows it would be like trying to put out a forest fire with garden hose, so he puts it where it will do some good and not in the bottomless wasteful spending pit of Washington DC.

It's very simple if Buffett wants to pay more taxes. Buffett should not be able to give all his money away to charity tax free. He is escaping capital gains taxes on his long term holdings, gift taxes, etc. They should tax it beyond a certain dollar level AND they should make it retroactive. That should make him happy.

He says he couldn't have succeeded in any other country but the U.S., so let him repay his debt to the nation instead of finding sneaky ways to cheat Uncle Sam out of revenue. He needs to pay his fair share, as they say.

but he didn't cheat Uncle Sam nor did the other filthy rich people. They simply used all the tax laws and loopholes that were placed in our extremely complex tax code that our wonderful politicians created for them. Want to blame somebody look to the 435 representatives. They write the tax code that the IRS enforces. You would be considered a business fool if you didn't exploit 100% of all legal means to not pay the IRS anything more then you have to. The tax code was written by the rich and for the rich. The rest of us middle class workers just get the bread crumbs. I would like to see the tax code simplified to two pages as follows;

Page 1: US TAX CODE PERSONAL AND CORPORATE

EVERYBODY PAYS-NO FREEBIES

Page 2: ALL PERSONAL TAXES AT 5% WITH NO DEDUCTIONS

ALL CORPORATE TAXES ARE 20% WITH NO DEDUCTIONS AND LLC'S ARE CONSIDERED CORPORATE.

Class warfare. Ain't fuckin' hard to figure out that throwing your own puny Millions at a multi-Trillion dollar problem is a terrible investment. Everyone knows you have to throw other people's _illions at every conceivable problem - that's just simple Keynesianism, even a Nobel laureate could understand.

These rich bastards and politicians always define wealth in terms of income (flow) rather than net worth (stock). Gee whiz, I wonder why that is?

Here's an idea: Total US dollars extant worldwide is estimated at $200 trillions. The Treasury declares a 10% dollar devaluation versus other world currencies. The treasury prints (or credits) $20 trillion to the Congress. Congress purchases the entire national debt held by the FED and with the $4 trillion in spare change upgrades America's outdated and crumbling infrastructure. The economy enjoys a massive infusion of $4 trillion and every taxpayer (the 51%) enjoys a 5% cut in federal income taxes. The economy would boom. The wealthy would take a disproportioante hit to their worth - Buffet gets his wish - and Obama gets his redistribution.

Of course, this would likely precipitate a war with our major creditor. Failing that, I'm confident the federal government would go on a massive spending binge and restablish a sizeable national debt in a few short years.

Actually, I'm relatively positive that they are doing this... as long as they have no defectors and they truly follow through without some sketchy loophole. The problem I think is that what they give initially is not enough for the public mind. The initial thought is that they are only paying their dues and have not had the same hardship and suffering as others.

But if they can overcome that, the motivation of paying taxes would be ... improved.

Then of course there is the problem of moral hazard bailing out the government for it's decades of policies.